Pranab Mukherjee meets Negroponte

la (Philippines), Aug.1 (ANIExternal Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today met the US Deputy Secretary of State, John D Negroponte, on the sidelines of a South Asian Security meet in Manila.

By Pankaj Chaudhary

Manila (Philippines), Aug.1 : External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today met the US Deputy Secretary of State, John D Negroponte, on the sidelines of a South Asian Security meet in Manila.

Mukherjee and Negroponte had a 25-minute meeting, during which they discussed the recently concluded bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation deal and bilateral trade.

Mukherjee also met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso.

Southeast Asian Foreign Ministers are here for the ASEAN Region Foreign Ministers conference, which is likely to be dominated by economic issues like free trade agreement, energy security and defence of human rights in the region.

Mukherjee said India's participation in the meeting underlined New Delhi's foreign policy thrust in the East Asian countries.

Mukherjee will also meet his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in a bid to seek Beijing's support in the Nuclear Suppliers Group for a landmark nuclear deal with the US.

ANI